


A Half of Myself

by feelsandbooksandshit



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:14:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25740409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feelsandbooksandshit/pseuds/feelsandbooksandshit
Summary: [But when he looked at Frankie's eyes, he didn't recognize them. They were always squinted slightly as if she had a permanent smile without even moving her mouth. A light had filled them with a hint of wonder that never seemed to leave. Now though, they were blank.]Leo was lied to.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	A Half of Myself

For a moment, Leo thought the figure he saw down the hall was another ghost. Their feet dragged on the floor and they rocked from side to side as they walked. It left as eerie feeling in his chest, and he could barely ignore the urge to run away. Still, the person didn't seem to have a transparent look or any glow to them, so he couldn't rule out that they were just a normal person, trapped in here like everyone else. As he opened his mouth to call out to them, Peter grabbed him.

"Let's go," He urged, pulled his arm.

"There's someone-"

"It's a ghost," He cut him off forcefully. "I don't want to stick around to die."

Leo couldn't take his eyes off of the staggering person. Their head was the only part of their body that remained stagnant as every other part fumbled and twitched, and there were multiple times in just a few seconds where it seemed as if the person was about to collapse into themselves. Despite Peter's warning, Leo found himself taking a step forward to try to get a better look at them. The moment his foot touched the ground again, a flash of lightning illuminated the hallway for just a moment.

Immediately, Peter pulled him back, but it was useless.

Leo saw.

Now that he had seen her, he couldn't believe he hadn't noticed before. Even without the light, the silhouette of her loose cardigan was easy to make out. Her footsteps remained quiet since she had soft, cushioning shoes on. Even her tendency to veer to the left while she walked was apparent despite the erratic motions.

Clear as day, alive, walking, breathing, was Frankie.

There was barely any moment to feel relief. The tug on his arm reminded Leo of who he was with and what he'd been told, and he quickly felt a fierce anger and disgust in his bones.

When Peter told him that Frankie didn't make it, Leo had lost a piece of himself. Growing up _with_ someone, taking their first steps together, starting each awkward phase of life, being so close that it was almost as if they felt each others emotions, that was a bond that became an entire part of Leo's self. There was no Leo without Frankie. Even as much as he's pushed her away and tried to get rid of that, they both always knew that they could never truly be apart.

Then the nirvana took hold of them. While on completely different planes of existence, there was an ache that couldn't be healed. It made Leo want his sister back. He would do anything to be near her again. The moment Peter said she was gone, that hope shattered, and his other half was torn away from him. Yet she was here. Peter had had the audacity to let him mourn and grieve and fall apart, and Leo just couldn't figure out why.

It surprised Leo that despite the thoughts filling his head, he could still feel the pain as his knuckles smashed into the hard cheekbone on Peter's face. The bones clashed, and as Peter fell to the ground, Leo could feel the ache in his fist. He'd thought his whirlwind emotions might numb him, maybe he could've blacked out for a moment, but he only felt the sensation stronger. For a moment he considered leaving it at that, but the thought of Peter living without consequences made him taste bile.

Reeling his foot back, Leo put all of the force he could muster into the kick that he sent into Peter's stomach. Ignoring Peter's groan of pain, he growled out, "You _lied!"_ He noticed how strained his voice sounded, but it felt as if another person was speaking instead of him. "You said she was _dead!"_

Peter's own voice was breathy as he replied, "It was better that way."

"I mourned her!" Sending another kick to Peter's stomach, he continued, "She's right here, and you said she was dead!"

"That's not her," Peter tried to grab Leo's leg to stop him, but he just yanked it away. "She's as good as gone."

Grabbing a fistful of Peter's hair, Leo shook him violently. "That's my fucking sister!"

"It's not! She's not there!"

With another punch to the face, Leo threw Peter back to the floor with no second thought. Frankie was right there, only feet away, alive.

"Franks..." Closing the distance between himself and her, he wrapped her up in the type of hug that he hadn't given her in years. He'd always feeling like she was a nuisance for wanting any hugs. Now Leo held his sister as if he would never see her again. He'd thought he never would.

She didn't return the hug, but he could feel the slight twitching of her arms.

Just holding her tighter, Leo said into her shoulder, "I'm sorry for everything. I missed you." It wasn't enough to heal them and Leo knew it, but it was better than nothing.

Frankie's head shook slowly against Leo's own shoulder. Quietly, she replied, "Poor boy." Leo laughed breathily, finally pulling back and looking at her face. It was as if he was seeing her for the first time in years, and it overwhelmed his emotions. Every feature that he'd once memorized as a young kid were now older, matured. Her slightly chubby cheeks had finally lost their baby fat, when did that happen?

But when he looked at Frankie's eyes, he didn't recognize them. They were always squinted slightly as if she had a permanent smile without even moving her mouth. A light had filled them with a hint of wonder that never seemed to leave. Now though, they were blank. Unmoving, open, empty eyes. Something in Leo's stomach felt heavy as he stared at her, waiting for some kind of life to come back into her face. "Frankie, it's okay now," He tried to soothe her.

Somehow, Frankie's face barely moved at all as she repeated, "Poor boy."

"Why are you saying that? Aren't you happy to see me again or what?"

"Poor, poor boy."

"Quit it, brat," Leo found it easy to slip back into his usual teasing, but something still felt eerily odd.

The laugh that erupted from Frankie was enough to send terror into every nerve in Leo's body. It wasn't like her normal soft laughs or stifled cackles, this one seemed like it was completely devoid of emotion, as if the voice wasn't hers. As Frankie stepped back a bit, Leo once again noticed her jagged motions and empty face.

"Hey, snap out of it," He clicked his fingers in front of her face. "We have to keep moving, come on." Thinking that she was limping from pain, he threw her arm over his shoulder to support her as she walked. Instead of letting him, she gently pulled her hand back and set it on his head. Confused, Leo asked, "What are you doing?" There was a smile on Frankie's face that didn't reach her eyes, but she didn't respond. She lifted her hand back up and Leo thought she would put it down or back on his shoulder, but she didn't.

Seeing a blur of movement, Leo quickly felt Frankie's nails tear down his cheek. He hissed in pain and pushed her back, putting a hand to his face as a bit of blood beaded in the fresh cuts. Even with only the slight push Leo had given her, just to give himself distance so he wouldn't be scratched again, Frankie was still wobbly enough to fall to the floor. Without any noise of pain or struggle, she simply forced herself to stand back up. She acted as if she didn't see or remember Leo standing there, and she continued her slow walk down the hall.

Leo yelled, "What the fuck?!" There was no indication that she heard him, despite only being a foot or two away.

"I told you," Peter's voice echoed down the hall from where Leo had left him. Glancing over, Leo saw that he was now standing with his arms crossed in front of his chest. "She's gone." Anger was refueled Leo's body, the pain from his cheek only making him angrier. As he started a fast stomp to hit Peter again, Peter called, "What will hitting me do, Leo? Look at her!" When Leo didn't falter, he continued, "Look at her, Leo!"

To shut him up, Leo glanced over to Frankie once again. She kept the same pace and stance she'd had. She kept the same face. It's as if they'd hadn't talked or hugged at all. As Leo halted slightly, she turned only her head to him, still walking slowly. She tilted her head as she stared into Leo's eyes, the same unsettling blank face that never appeared on her face before Nirvana.

"Frankie..."

Again, she burst into laughter, almost as if she knew she'd gotten his hopes up and loved tormenting him. The thought of being toyed with made him want to rip his own hair out.

"Frankie wouldn't hurt you," Peter reminded, starting to walk over. "She wouldn't hurt anyone."

Leo couldn't turn his eyes away from her, or it, or whatever that thing was if not Frankie. They had her face, her clothes, her being. They had the freckles on her face, the highlights in her hair. Still, what had made Frankie _herself_ was her spirit and her energy. Her bright smile and glowing eyes, her kind words and gentle actions, those were things that couldn't be seen here.

Before Leo had even noticed, Peter had finished walking to him and put a hand on Leo's shoulder. "Come on, leave it. We have to find Max and the others."

A second after Leo nodded and turned away from Frankie, he heard her voice, her _normal_ voice, call out, "Leo?" He'd never spun around faster in his life.

"Franks?" She looked like herself, her eyebrows pulled together and lips pursed. Relief filled every nerve of Leo's body.

Only for a moment though. The beings' face dropped and they laughed, a cackle unlike anything that could come from Frankie. They tricked him. All of the energy left Leo's body. The only emotion he could process was his sorrow. It was a tight feeling in his chest that he'd never felt before, so out of the ordinary and strong that he couldn't help the tears welling up in his eyes. Sobs wracked his body before he could stop himself, and the tightness made it hard to breathe. Panic and grief were all he knew.

Peter tried to drag Leo away to calm down, but he just curled into himself and kept crying. Instead of trying to persuade him, he just sat next to him and put a hand on his arm.

When Leo could eventually breathe and stop crying, the being was already gone.


End file.
